Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Would it be worth it to start off breeding normal balls or go straight to breeding morphs and if it is better to start breeding morphs what would be a good lower priced morph?

yea thats what i did because the normals have no value i picked up 10 unsexed 09 babies for 30.00 at a show i would at least start with a pastel, spider, or cinny to normal females.
pastels are at about 50.00 for males and about 80.00 for females at wholesale
spiders are at about 125.00 for males and about 160.00 for females
cinnys are at about 100.00 for males and about 150.00 for females
so thats what i'd do.

the market sucks right now for norm babies and thats the truth.

but, good luck and hope everything goes well for you,
Brice

2.2 pastel ball python
1.0 black pastel ball python
1.1 spider ball python
1.0 TSK axanthic
0.1 100% het TSK axanthic
0.7 normal ball python
1.1 mojave ball python
1.0 black back poss 100% het pied ball python
1.3 red tail boa
0.1 albino green burm
2.4 bearded dragon
1.1 B.T.S
1.1 leopard gecko
1.0 panther chameleon

It really depends on what your goals are, how much money you are looking to spend, time frame, if you are able to properly care for the offspring until sold, etc.

If you just want to see if you can breed balls, then yeah a pair of normals is a good cheap start - you can buy adults fairly cheap and breed this season. But you'll likely find that unless you have a pet store that is willing to take cheap normal babies - you might have a hard time selling the offspring.

Alternatively you can find a cheap morph male to substitute in but there is a lot of competition for the low end morphs. So be prepared to care for the babies until sold.

If you have the time and can afford it and want to raise up some co-dom morph babies to breeders then make some nice combo morphs maybe make bees or something that still has a decent market.

Breeding in itself is not all that hard - but people have a real hard time when they produce a bunch of babies and find that they aren't selling four weeks out of the egg. So as long as you are prepared a head of time for that then breed what you like but do it responsibly.
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Tosha
JET Pythons
Toshas Blog

nihil facimus sed id bene facimus

Tosha has a good point. It took me a few months to sell normal 66% possible het anery corn snake babies and I sold them for a little below market value. I think it is possible to sell normal ball pythons but most often it will be to people who don't know where to look to get cheap normal ball python babies (ie captive hatched imports) so it is possible. It also depends where you live too and whether you will be shipping or just selling locally.

There are many co-dom and dominant morphs that are not all that expensive to buy, which can be bred to normal females and have a decent chance of showing up in the clutch. Pastels, spiders, Mojaves, to name a few. Even some recessive morphs aren't too expensive to buy, such as albinos. Just keep in mind that even if you buy an adult, you do need to quarantine it for at least a month before introducing them to your already established collection. It may even be better to just save your money and pick up new babies in the spring then grow them up, or adults. This will give you the spring and summer to ensure they are healthy before breeding in the fall.
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PHLdyPayne

Buy what you like. Don't buy ball pythons to breed them.. buy them bc you enjoy and have fun keeping them. Then breeding them is fun. If your only goal is to breed them, pick something else you'll have much less frustrations =)
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www.geckobabies.com